Steelethespotlight's Planning Thread - May 15,2015 - Hard Rock Vallara

[SteeleTheSpotlight]

Okay so being so new to finding this site I thought I would start a thread to help keep me organized it's getting to be crunch time. It also really helped me to see other people's photos and get ideas and I wanted to be able to share my photo's and ideas to maybe help someone else!

 

The Long story SHORT haha

 

How we met:

 I used to be so embarrassed and not want to tell people but, working in the wedding industry and seeing that 7 out of 10 of my brides met online haha I'm finally over it! lol. So yes we met on eharmony ... it was a weird and totally a different experience but hey 3 years later and were getting married and I'm the happiest I have ever been in my whole life.

 

The Engagment:

We had just bought a house in April and did a ton of remolding and finally decided to have a house warming party! The morning of the house warming party he asked me if I wanted to walk down town and get coffee ... I was immediately like NO WAY! haha we have 40 people coming over in a few hours I need to get everything ready. He really kept trying to get me to go .... I finally against my will said fine I'll go! All annoyed haha I went out back and it was then I saw a really cute sign (i'll post a picture below) with a ring box hanging from it by our sunflower garden. So sweet he got down on one knee and proposed! It was really sweet we both were teary eyed. His uncle was on a ladder over the fence clicking photos. Then all our best friends and family showed up and brought Mimosa's and homemade cinnamon rolls and it was really fun! He had my Aunt who is like my second mom fly in and my best friend form California was there. It was so so so sweet. And then it was great to have them all help me whip everything for the party into shape haha! Then when everyone arrived for the party I got to tell them the news and show off my ring! It was so amazing and the best day ever!

 

 

The RIng:

We went and looked at rings about 6 months before he actually proposed. It took forever haha after we went ring shopping I was so excited and waiting for it haha. There were so many trips I thought this is going to it .. and nothing! He got the exact ring i wanted except the diamond center stone was twice the size I thought it would be I was very excited to say the least! I absolutely love my ring and feel so lucky I get to wear it everyday for the rest of my life! It's a very dainty diamond band with a cushion halo and a  cushion cut 1.15 carat center stone. (picture below)

 

Picking the Resort/ Travel Agent:

I was so excited I had basically start planning our wedding like 3 months after we went ring shopping haha. We had talked about it a lot and he had always wanted a destination wedding and I knew I didn't want to get married were we live cause I work in the wedding industry and I didn't want to go there with picking vendors when 3 of my closest friends are florists ect. I though that would lead to lots of drama and hurt feelings so I was completely on board with a destination wedding. We had also heard that the cost was low and since we were going to be paying for our entire wedding ourselves this was appealing to us. I had also heard lot of my brides say how stressful planning a wedding was and how they wished they did destination. My hairdresser had recently got married in Mexico so we started looking into it and she used a site called http://everafter.com/ and recommended it. Worst decision we ever made! haha Learning curve .. we had no idea where to start so we took her advice and used http://everafter.com/ we ended up with a CRAZY travel agent who had no idea what she was doing. She totally fooled us she was so nice the first month helped us decide on a resort and pick a location and she seemed great! As soon as we sent Save The Dates she turned CRAZY and DISORGANIZED she messed up the first 18 peoples reservations, booked people at the wrong resort, messed up names, booked wrong airports ... it was crazy stressful for us and we were so embarrassed so we ended up calling the Everafter customer service and get re assigned a non- crazy, our new girls is super sweet and much more organized but dealing and straightening everything out after she created a mess was really not a fun two weeks! So I highly recommend not using a site like that I wished we would have used someone local. After finding this site I read lots about people getting really bad Travel Agents .. oh well it all worked out in the end!

 

Save The Date/ Invite/ RSVP's/Wedding Website:

We decided to use http://www.appycouple.com/ we really liked it! It was $35 one time fee and we bought a custom domain name for $10.00. We liked all the features it offered and it had lots of customization and seemed perfect to hold all the info we wanted to give people for the destination. My FI was great and totally took on this project. We decided to just send save the date magnets we used Wedding Paper Divas and they were great! Smaller than I thought they would be but they were fine. We also included one of there mini cards and gave our Wedding website on one side and the other said how to RSVP with our app. It is modern but it saved us a big chunk on sending out invites. I do LOVE all the passport invites that i saw on this site all the girls on here did a fantastic job! Had I seen them when we started planning I probably would have made them! Getting RSVP's was also very very stressful people were so rude my mom and I had to sit down one afternoon and call a million people and ask are you coming .. so annoying! We still have about 5 couples in limbo which is frustrating when your start to plan and you need numbers to do things like OOT bags and Table Numbers .. ugh (rant Over haha). Though the process so far we are about 2 months out and I feel like no one used our wedding website or RSVP feature .. Oh well it seemed like a great idea looking back I probably would not have paid for it but we did so whatever haha. I just though with the world so App, tablet and computer obsessed that it would be a huge hit! I was wrong!

 

 

 

 

 

Wedding Colors:

Bright tangerine, coral to a soft peach with pops of gold!

So more like a monochromatic color scheme of Orange with pops of gold.

 

 

Also if you are reading my thread you will see I have the worst spelling and grammar haha. I'm a makeup artist not and English teacher so I'm giving you a head's up haha.

 

Thanks so reading.

 

I have all day off tomorrow I plan on getting organized, making list and adding lots to this thread. Were also supposed to be getting about 8 more inches of snow tonight so I will be happily bundled on my couch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SteeleTheSpotlight]

Here is our save the date magnet with the mini card .. we just did one mini card but I gave you both sides!

 

[Wafflesmom]

Yay, you started a planning thread! I love all of the planning threads because you guys all give me so many things to consider, and your lessons-learned are great for all of us who are still planning.

 

So apparently you and I have lots in common. Not only do we both have Starbucks as a first date location but we both met our future hubbies online! We met on Plenty of Fish. I was so reluctant to go online dating and was embarrassed too but had I not gone on it, I would have never met my fiancé!

 

And your proposal is absolutely romantic! What a great engagement story. So appropriate that you're having your engagement photos there too.

 

Can't wait for more posts, love everything do far!

 

P.S. Our colors are coral and grey. More on the pinky end of coral spectrum though

[kcole123]

Yay I am happy you started on your thread. Great read so far and can't wait to see more.

 

I also had/have a nightmare of a travel agent. She was great at first but turned disorganized. A lot of my guests have complained to me about her. But being three months out and everyone is paid up, no point in changing her now to add more confusion. I should have insisted on someone else right from the beginning. I complained to her manager at one point but she seemed just as confused and disorganized. Hopefully everyone gets their flights when they are supposed to and nothing messes up with their flight times. Fingers crossed.

 

Can't wait to read more of your thread. Keep going.

[SteeleTheSpotlight]

Yay, you started a planning thread! I love all of the planning threads because you guys all give me so many things to consider, and your lessons-learned are great for all of us who are still planning.

 

So apparently you and I have lots in common. Not only do we both have Starbucks as a first date location but we both met our future hubbies online! We met on Plenty of Fish. I was so reluctant to go online dating and was embarrassed too but had I not gone on it, I would have never met my fiancé!

 

And your proposal is absolutely romantic! What a great engagement story. So appropriate that you're having your engagement photos there too.

 

Can't wait for more posts, love everything do far!

 

P.S. Our colors are coral and grey. More on the pinky end of coral spectrum though

 

Thanks for the sweet comments!

 

Yes online is so weird but it is totally the way of the world now haha. Really it is so convenient haha you can see a lot of deal breakers in just reading there profile haha.

 

Love your color choice! Coral is so fun and happy and totally Mexico!

 

Your so lucky your found the website so early on your going to have a wealth of amazing info!

Yay I am happy you started on your thread. Great read so far and can't wait to see more.

 

I also had/have a nightmare of a travel agent. She was great at first but turned disorganized. A lot of my guests have complained to me about her. But being three months out and everyone is paid up, no point in changing her now to add more confusion. I should have insisted on someone else right from the beginning. I complained to her manager at one point but she seemed just as confused and disorganized. Hopefully everyone gets their flights when they are supposed to and nothing messes up with their flight times. Fingers crossed.

 

Can't wait to read more of your thread. Keep going.

I'm glad to hear we were not the only suckers haha my FI was so upset about the travel agent mess .. but he was the one to take care of everything he also help fixed like 10 of our guests flight and he also helped the rebook there rooms which took a lot of stress off me! What travel agent did you use was it an online destination wedding one?

 

I will try to keep going haha I'm hoping this will keep me on track! I'm also huge on photos! I love when girls on here post photos of what they have made! The most stressful thing is ordering items online and not knowing how they will turn out! So I will try and post photos of what I buy!

[kcole123]

NO I actually used a travel agent that was recommended in Ontario. Hopefully all will be good now that everything is booked and confirmed and paid up. I hope there won't be any issues with their travel.

 

I love the photo's too. The more photo's the better I think. lol

[SteeleTheSpotlight]

Master List of things before we leave in 73 days AHHHH haha.

 

I'm listing questions for other BDW Brides and advice needed in Bold. Hope that will help. Links or store where I bought from will be in Orange

 

1.Figure out our suitcase situation

- how many are we allowed to bring on united?

- how many do we actually have in our basement?

- pre pack our decor and OOT bags to see how much space we really need

 

2.Go do my first fitting for my dress, dress came in yesterday 2/27/15

- make alternations apt

 

3.Still need to find a veil

 

4.We need to lock down our official ceremony stuff.

- I have partial layouts off stuff I found mostly on BDW

- Find vows we like that aren't to long ( we are criers haha)

- Find a family member to maybe marry us or read for us

Did anyone use the officiant at the resort how was it? I'm scared our guest won't understand him .. am I crazy and this will be fine?

 

5. Ceremony Site Day of Setup/ items I need to make and bring!

- buy straw fans and decor for them

-actually put them together

- make the programs and order on vista print

- ask resort about putting out a big bucket water bottles

- order sunnies

- 2 frames for two signs one for water one for sunnies

- Find out if resort has a sign we can buy that says something like "shoes optional"

to put by ceremony site on the beach.

Did anyone else or is anyone else doing this? I'm thinking the sign I have in my head will be too hard to pack and take down ideas?

 

I ordered the fans from here http://www.orientaltrading.com/natural-raffia-fans-a2-34_1124-18-0.fltr

Here Are a few photos. I'm deciding what ribbon to use .. I'm open to opinions!

I'm going to take the Orchids off the stem and hot glue gun them to the bottom of the fan. The programs will go on top I might roll a piece of tape to stick on the back then people can remove them but they won't blow away when sitting on the ceremony chairs. Thought?

 

 

This is what the fans look like when you take them out of the box. The reviews said the were not all perfectly the same size and shape. From my batch they are almost all identical. Not a big deal in my book I paid $10 for 12 fans. I waiting till Oriental Trading Company had a free ship day and then ordered them. Some of the have dark colored streak through the fan you will see in the next photo. again it didn't both me!

 

 

Here is three fans so you can see the very minor difference.Mostly in color.

 

Here are my ribbon picks ... I really like the striped geometric one the best ... going to play with them today! The silk flowers are from JoAnne's 7 flowers on a stem for 6.99 and they were 30% off plus I had a 20% my whole purchase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.Cocktail Hour

- 2 small frames with printouts for our signature cocktails

- Double check with WC to make sure we are set with ingredients for out Sig Drinks

- Book DJ

 

6. Reception

- order coral cloth napkins

Any advise on the best site to do this?

* Florist nightmare

Our hotel is making us use FlorArt and I'm on my 11th quote and every time it is wrong! It's the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced! it's $400 just to use another vendor at our resort. So lame. They should at least give you 3 options in each category. I feel like it's only fair to have options. Me and the FI are sitting down to write a long angry letter tonight to the resort to see if they will let us pick someone else cause she can't seem to get anything right ... oh and bonus here she doesn't speak English so I'm using Google Translator to plug her quotes into AHHHH no time for this uuugh! One florist who doesn't speak English ...PERFECT! (RANT OVER)

If anyone has tips or suggestions I would LOVE to hear them!

 

7.Bridemaids Gifts

- Kate Spade Bangles

- Silkandmore Robes

- Havianas

- M.A.C. Lipsticks

- custom tumblers - anyone have a good referral for these I want the skinny ones?

-

-

I have not ordered the robes yet .. I asked the seller a bunch of questions haha so I'm waiting to hear back. I wanted to know if they shrink and more info on the lining if she had photos of lined ones some of the reviews said they felt kinda of cheap though 90% of the reviewers loved them. So I thought maybe paying a little more to have them lined might feel nicer. Also I can't decide if I should order one for my mom and aunt who will be getting ready with us ..? Thoughts? Anyone order robes from Silkandmore on Etsy?

 

I love these colors! https://www.etsy.com/listing/208830379/coral-bridesmaids-robes-kimono-crossover

 

I'm Kate Spade obsessed I found these bangles before we even got engaged and ordered them for my girls over the holidays she did 30% off her whole website.

 

The bracelets read:

Maid of Honor

• exterior inscription reads: the hocus to my pocus, the lovey to my dovey, the hoity to my toity, the riff to my raff, the helter to my skelter
• interior inscription reads: you and me

Bridesmaid

• exterior inscription reads: birds of a feather, two of a kind, perfect pair, partners in crime, peas in a pod, sidekicks
• interior inscription reads: best friends ever

Bride - yes I got one for me haha

• inscription reads: cue the confetti, cheers!, kiss the bride, tie the knot, toss the bouquet, cut the cake.
• inside reads: " happily ever after"

 

 

 

 

8.Groomsmen Gifts

- Oakley Sunglasses

- Funny Shirts

-

 

9. I want to get a fake ring that looks like mine to wear for all the days except our wedding day. For boating trips and excursions and while at the beach and in the pool. I have heard this is pretty normal and a safe idea!

 

 

This is what I have so far!

[SteeleTheSpotlight]

OOT BAGS ... In the making!

 

Sunglass ....What a task!

 

I got a referral link from a bride of here and originally ordered them of Amazon from

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007KU4FMW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

we got them really quick but I was so disappointed in the quality on 10 pairs the arms of the sunnies were already broken off the plastic had clear bubbles in it and there were sharp parts on the plastic the could cut you! NOT GOOD the price was amazing I should have known haha. Too Good To Be True! I wish I took photos of how bad they were to show you. They took them back no problem and refunded me before I had even sent them back. The reviews on them were overall not bad which was why we ordered them to begin with. Maybe we jsut got a back batch I don't know but I wouldn't recommend it.

 

The FI suggested we go to the dollar store! So we headed there the next day and just paid a dollar a piece for them but these are was better. We wended up doing the same style in 3 colors cause we went to 3 dollar store just to get the 36 pairs we needed haha and it was a bonus they had kids sizes in the same style so that was cool!

 

Here is a few of the sunnies the three colors are white, tortoise and black. I wasn't a fan of the white but the FI was dead set on it and i guess it is OUR wedding haha so I let him win this one haha

 

and one more up close. The quality is amazing compared to the amazon ones these are very sturdy and even have UV protection! Most of the ones on Amazon don't. We also didn't put our wedding info on them so people could take them on the boat or activities if they didn't want to loose there nice ones.

 

Wedding Chicks http://shop.weddingchicks.com/hola-amigo-custom-wedding-tote/

I did go with the bags from wedding chicks. I had seen them on pinterest from day one and had to have them I bought the coupon off Guit.com so that helped! Now that I have seen all the cheaper bag options maybe that would have been a smarter purchase haha but oh well I LOVE these they turned out great and I think they are just so adorable! Especially the plane in the corner haha. Hopefully people will use them to take to the pool.

 

 

OOT Bag List - My FI wants to kill me he was totally against the bags from day one lol He is out budgeter haha I'm the spendor haha we balance each other out! He is now getting into them and realizing how fun they will be! It took awhile but he is coming around. He has more stress of how we are going to get this all to Mexico haha... Which I kinda do too!

 

OUR BAGS:

In Sickness and in Health bag:

Tums Roll- Traget

Alka-selzer - Amazon

Aloe Vera - Target

Advil - Amazon

 

Chapstick- Dollar Store

Emergen-C- Amazon

Peto- Amazon

Band-Aids - Staples

Gadoradge Pacets - Can't find yet haha

I really wanna order the cute muslin bags off etsy for these but it's just one more cost but dang they are so cute! haha

 

Other stuff

Deck of cards -Amazon

Bubba Kegs - we splurged! Bubba.com

Itinerary- vista print

Wrist coil/ clear badge that seals - Amazon

Door Hangers-esty

Gum mini Orbitz packets- Amazon

Hot Tamales - FI ideas so wired but for some reason he thinks its hilarious!

 

 

We will be going to Costco when we arrive to get some snacks!

 

Things I want too add .. the FI is gonna kill me!

Beach Balls

Bubble Bath/Bath Salts - I can't find any good options for this was thinking of buying travel size bottles and making my own cute ones Thought?

our hotel has HUGE Jetted tuns in all the rooms so I thought some bath products would be cute!

 

What do you think about are bags ...? Missing anything big or super fun? I'm all about FUN! haha That's why I did cards I know me and my girls will have fun playing by the pool! Beach balls seem so fun! I wanted to do pool rafts but The FI was gonna kill me haha but they sound like so much fun. My bridesmaid is coming with her newborn he will be 6 months maybe haha so I bought her a surprise pool float I thought it would be sweet and helpful. I'm not a mom so hopefully it will be haha ( the FI doesn't know about the baby float lol) I figured if I un box it and put it in the bottom of on of our bags it would be fine!

 

 

NO I actually used a travel agent that was recommended in Ontario. Hopefully all will be good now that everything is booked and confirmed and paid up. I hope there won't be any issues with their travel.

 

I love the photo's too. The more photo's the better I think. lol

I agree! Well then I feel less bad for trusting an online destination specialize haha. Live and learn I swear if I had to plan another wedding after this I bet it would go great haha!

Love your story! that is incredibly sweet. Like you, I was also kind-of waiting for it as we had also gone ring shopping about 6 months before. Also together three years! haha

Your ring is beautiful I can't wait to see more from your thread!

Thanks for the sweet comment on my ring! I'm head over heel sin love with it haha.

 

I'm glad people are actually reading my thread it was partly to keep me organized and partly to give back to some Brides after feeling so loved by the Brides who have helped me on here!

 

This site rocks!

 

Just got it cleaned! I also was thinking I want it super clean for the wedding ... but I hate to not wear it the few days before haha .. Is everyone else as obsessed with there ring as me .. or am i the only ring nerd haha. I was thinking about getting a fake one from Claire's or something so mine stays perfect. What is everyone else doing? If you did get a fake ring where did you buy it?

[Wafflesmom]

@, those are the bangles I was talking about. I love Kate Spade, and she has a whole bridal accessories line now. Definitely getting these. Kinda regret not getting them last year with 30%promo code and a better exchange rate! And hold off on the weddingchicks bag. I bought mine last November and they had a 50% promo code. They haven't had any promotions since then so I'm sure something will pop up soon. We got the design that says, "for away with us"

 

@@SteeleTheSpotlight I love all the ideas!! Did you see that Kate spade has a sale going on? i really want the gramercy locket that's on sale, or even the "say yes" necklace. Do the bangles fit small or big? I have small wrists and am afraid that the bangle may be too big on my wrist. Ok so I'll try to help with some of your questions.

 

- napkins: have you tried linentablecloths.com? They have coral napkins, table runners, table cloths and chair sashes.

- fans: love the geometric print ribbon and absolutely love the idea of hot glueing the flowers. That will look so pretty and add a great touch of color

- flowers: have you tried contacting mayafloral.com to see if they can help? A lot of brides have used them (you can search for them on this site for reviews) and have just had the flowers dropped off at the lobby to avoid the outside vendor fee.

- robes: I say get them robes if you're planning on "getting ready" pics. It will look great in pictures!

 

Hope that kinda helps

Edited February 28, 2015 by Wafflesmom

[SteeleTheSpotlight]

@, those are the bangles I was talking about. I love Kate Spade, and she has a whole bridal accessories line now. Definitely getting these. Kinda regret not getting them last year with 30%promo code and a better exchange rate! And hold off on the weddingchicks bag. I bought mine last November and they had a 50% promo code. They haven't had any promotions since then so I'm sure something will pop up soon. We got the design that says, "for away with us"

 

@@SteeleTheSpotlight I love all the ideas!! Did you see that Kate spade has a sale going on? i really want the gramercy locket that's on sale, or even the "say yes" necklace. Do the bangles fit small or big? I have small wrists and am afraid that the bangle may be too big on my wrist. Ok so I'll try to help with some of your questions.

 

- napkins: have you tried linentablecloths.com? They have coral napkins, table runners, table cloths and chair sashes.

- fans: love the geometric print ribbon and absolutely love the idea of hot glueing the flowers. That will look so pretty and add a great touch of color

- flowers: have you tried contacting mayafloral.com to see if they can help? A lot of brides have used them (you can search for them on this site for reviews) and have just had the flowers dropped off at the lobby to avoid the outside vendor fee.

- robes: I say get them robes if you're planning on "getting ready" pics. It will look great in pictures!

 

Hope that kinda helps@waffe

@wafflesmom  thanks so much for all your suggestions! So they said we cannot bring napkins but I'm thinking of doing it anyways haha not sure what they will do but they want to charge me freakin' $8.00 per napkin! That's nuts right?

 

I did think about just meeting the florist out front but it says in our contract we cannot bring our own flowers so I'm scared if I pay a ton then they won't let me use them! I finally called the resort today to talk to a manager cause the Florist they are making me use is driving me crazy! So hopefully Monday they will have options for me!

 

I decided today I'm just going to go with the robes from GettingReadyRobes on Etsy I think it's the same seller as Silkandmore. The reviews are mostly good. I'm not going to have them lined it will be hot anyways so hopefully they are fine I am however considering adding belt loops for $2 per robe and maybe pockets for $5 to make them look slightly nicer but the photos on pinterest look pretty good without them.

 

I'm going to work on the fans tomorrow today it didn't happen haha. The FI thinks the flowers will get smashed in the luggage .. he is not on board with the fans haha. I think people will love them when there sitting there sweating to dead lol. I'll post photos I really like to geo pattern too just wanted to make sure someone agreed haha.

 

That was the site I was thinking of using for the napkins! Glad to hear it again! I'll be ordering them tomorrow I hope the resort just let me put them out! haha